Their memories of a bygone era of sprawling ranches, beachside cookouts and family sing-alongs collide with the cruel remembrance of wartime anxiety and injustice.

Those recollections spilled forth Sunday as descendants of the 20 Japanese families that raised crops on the Kurata Ranch in 1930s Gardena gathered for their first reunion since the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The get-together was a chance for about 40 Nisei – children of Japanese parents who settled here – to enjoy their unique bond, along with their children and their children’s children.

“I don’t care if I (die) tomorrow. I’m having so much fun today,” said Bill Nishimura, 86, of Torrance. “It’s taken over 70 years to get us all together.”

About 100 people gathered at the Gardena Valley Japanese Cultural Institute for the event. Grandchildren looked at black-and-white photos of their grandparents as young boys and girls. Letters written from internment camps, where many Japanese-Americans were forcibly relocated to during World War II, were carefully read.

And stories were shared of the sunny days when the Kurata Ranch fields were lined with bunches of colorful sweet pea flowers and vegetables. That land is now covered by tract homes divided between Hawthorne and El Camino Village. It is bordered by the Dominguez Channel, Manhattan Beach Boulevard, Prairie Avenue and 145 th Street.

Kichitaro Kurata leased the ranch from the Bodger Seed Co. in 1929 because the Japanese Issei – first-generation immigrants – were not allowed to buy land here. Kurata then subleased lots to Issei farmers until the ranch was shut down on Dec. 7, 1941, and its residents were either imprisoned, sent to internment camps or moved away hoping to avoid capture.

Nishimura’s father was imprisoned because his membership in the Gardena Valley Japanese Association was suspicious to authorities. So Nishimura and his mother fled to Visalia, hoping to avoid forced relocation to a camp. But, within two months, they were found and incarcerated, he said.

For the next five years, Nishimura lived in four differentcamps working and questioning what he believed was a violation of his civil rights.

“To me, the government was lawless,” he said. “We didn’t have any place to go to fight it out. So I renounced my citizenship and became stateless.”

When Nishimura did that, he was sent to an alien enemy camp in Santa Fe, N.M. While there, the war ended and he was given $25 and a bus ticket. The government’s decision not to deport Nishimura prompted a change in his perspective, he said.

“My feeling changed from hate to love,” he said. “I thought: ‘The government still has warm feelings for me.’ But I lost everything – the place where I stored my goods burned down.”

Nishimura worked hard and became a successful gardener. His children have also had success as an accountant and legislative analyst – and they went with him to Sunday’s reunion, along with his grandson.

“After hearing how closely they lived together and how much their lives intertwined – that experience, plus the camp, has given them that connection,” said his daughter, Lynne Ozawa.

Wendy Hirano of Torrance also enjoyed learning more about the past of her father, 79-year-old Shigeru Ishii, who grew up on the ranch.

“My dad rarely talked about the past,” Hirano said. “I think it’s fascinating to see my father when he was young.”

Hirano’s 16-year-old daughter, Claire, said she was surprised to see the complexity of her grandfather’s history.

“It kind of makes me realize he does have a past,” Claire Hirano said. “It’s pretty weird to think how much things have changed. There’s no farms here now.”

Beverly Toyama, a 63-year-

old Los Angeles woman whose mother grew up on the ranch, organized the reunion. She said the event was a way to get a better picture of her own history.

“I think it’s human nature that people – as they get older – want to know more about where they come from,” Toyama said. “And I’ve always appreciated my Japanese-American heritage.”

Sandy Mazza is a freelancer. She previously worked for Southern California News Group as a city reporter covering Carson and Hawthorne and specializing in features about Los Angeles' growing Silicon Beach tech, bioscience, and aerospace sectors.